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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday released military aid to Egypt that was suspended after the 2013 overthrow of the government, in an effort to boost Cairo’s ability to combat the extremist threat in the region.Go to Source

Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran traded accusations Tuesday over the escalating conflict in Yemen, which the UN rights chief warned was on the brink of "total collapse". The Huthi rebels and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, "decided with the support of Iran to destabilise Yemen," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said. Tehran hit back, accusing Riyadh of putting the entire Middle East in jeopardy. Iranian state media rejected as "utter lies" claims Tehran had sent arms to Yemen, but said it had dispatched non-military aid, including food and medicine.

PARIS (AP) — France sees a window of opportunity after Israel's elections to get the United States on board with a new push for Mideast peace, and is preparing a draft U.N Security Council resolution in about 12 days, according to French diplomatic officials.

I had barely posted yesterday’s post with nine links, called “Many Voices on the Region’s Newest War,” when I discovered my Inbox, Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds, etc. were filling up again. (I haven’t posted links in Arabic because right now they’re running very biased.) I’m assembling the links, not endorsing the views:

Despite an agreement at a weekend Arab summit to establish a joint military force, serious doubts remain that it will become a reality on the ground, experts say. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the accord on Sunday at the end of the summit he hosted in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, setting a four-month timeframe for the 22-member Arab League to decide on the composition and rules of engagement of the joint force. "The notion of a truly joint Arab military force still remains an aspiration rather than a reality," said Frederic Wehrey, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Despite the statements of unity, there are vast differences between the Arab states and that was evident with the situation in Yemen," he said.

One of Tunisia’s niche tourist attractions is the fact that the first Star Wars film was filmed in and around the southern Tunisian town of Tataouine, which also gave its name to Luke Skywalker’s home planet. After some Western media reported (wrongly) that pro-ISIS forces had taken control of the area, Tunisian social media started having fun with the idea, which isn’t true. See the link but here are three of the best samples: